From the NCAA Championships to the pro tour

While Roland Garros has been taking over the headlines, a smaller-scaled yet vitally important tournament has been taking place across the world from Paris in Tulsa, Okla. This year Virginia won the men’s team title over Oklahoma, while Stanford captured the women’s trophy over Oklahoma State.

Transitioning to the pro tour from college is no simple step, but a few talented players have pulled it off with varied success.

No. 34-ranked Steve Johnson completed his degree at the University of Southern California in 2012, and walked away with four team NCAA titles and two singles NCAA trophies. To put that into perspective, even just participating in the NCAA Championships is widely considered the pinnacle of college achievements.

Johnson finished his senior season on a 72-match win streak:

The 26-year-old's teammate for all four of his college years was Daniel Nguyen, who also has those four NCAA team rings and clinched the title on two occasions. Though ranked lower than Johnson at No. 238, Nguyen has had a taste of pro success.

“I had a little [cheering] section,” Nguyen said after winning his first U.S. Open match (in qualifying) last year. “It was awesome to be able to look at them. It felt like when I won in 2011 when we clinched over Virginia. It felt sort of like today’s match where the guys are all rooting for you.”

John Isner and Kevin Anderson both completed degrees before turning pro (at Georgia and Illinois respectively), and both have spent quality time inside the Top 20. Isner, seeded 15th, is into the fourth round of the French Open this week.

Though she didn’t compete her degree at Stanford yet, Nicole Gibbs also first enjoyed an incredible college career.

“I have one more year at Stanford,” she said earlier this year in Miami. “[I] plan to go back, to take classes like normal. People ask me that question all the time and I say in an ideal world I’d like to finish my education and make use of the three years I did put in.”

During those three years in Palo Alto, Gibbs won two singles, one doubles and one team NCAA title.

She was really excited that her school captured its 18th women's team crown this week:

Her start on the pro tour was far from seamless, but the 23-year-old has found her stride this year, reaching the round of 16 of Indian Wells and achieving a career-high ranking of No. 71 last month.

"At college I was used to running through a lot of matches and winning a lot of tournaments," Gibbs said. "And that's just not the case, at least not immediately, on tour. I'm starting to get some more wins now so that was definitely a learning process."

While Gibbs is hoping to complete her degree one day inside a real classroom, some of the pros opt for an online education. Another American, world No. 64 Irina Falconi, spent two years at Georgia Tech (turning pro after a 40-2 record during her sophomore year). The 25-year-old won her first WTA title in Bogota last month, and is planning to complete her degree online at Indiana University East this year.

One of Falconi's “classmates” has been Venus Williams, who graduated last year with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration.

Other Indiana East class-takers included Shelby Rogers, Monica Puig and Alla Kudryavtseva. Rogers upset No. 10 seed Petra Kvitova to advance to the fourth round in Paris this week.

Back in Oklahoma, the race for the singles and doubles NCAA Championship rings rages on. Though the road is rarely walked, some of the college students who competed this week could very well be spotted on the pro tour in the coming years.